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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-10-24, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2019. Sawchuk pens guide for accessible home-building After going through the process with her family to build an accessible, barrier-free home, Blyth’s Julie Sawchuk has written a book in the hope that it will be easier for those who come after her. Build Your Space: How to Create an Accessible Home for You, Your Family and Your Future should be available in print later this month and Sawchuk is hosting a special open house at her family’s home on Blyth Road east of Blyth to launch it. The open house, set for Saturday, Nov. 16, will not only serve as a launch event for the book, but also a chance for locals to see the Sawchuks’ new home, built by Blyth’s Casey Boven with a completely barrier-free design. Sawchuk chose to self-publish the book, which will be available on amazon.ca later this month, working with the same team she did to contribute a chapter to Shine: Inspirational Stories of Choosing Success over Adversity. Ahead of writing Build Your Space, however, Sawchuk employed the services of a writing coach for the first time. With the help of that coach, Sawchuk was able to formulate an outline of what she hoped to cover in her book and once that was in place, she said the ideas flowed very easily. She wrote the book in chunks, tackling a chapter at a time, which she says helped to keep her on track. After Sawchuk was struck while cycling a number of years ago, paralyzing her from the chest down, the process to get her home again began shortly after her rehabilitation stay in London. Living in a 110- year-old, two-storey farmhouse, however, there was plenty of work to do and the family soon realized a new house would have to be built. It was then that she was surprised at the lack of resources out there for those looking to build a barrier-free home. The resources she did find were all American and many of them handled the basics like ramps and grab bars. To truly build an accessible, barrier-free home from the ground up, however, demands a number of additional decisions to create a house no different than most suburban homes that is just accessible for all. For example, working with Cindy Kerr of iDesign Kitchen Studio, they By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Custom made furniture, kitchens, vanities, wood trim and much more...designed to fit your home. 41496 Moncrieff Road Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 Laverne Ropp 519-441-0802 Jeff Kuepfer 519-441-7998 ✤Cuisipro ✤Le Creuset ✤Staub ✤Wellness Mats ✤All Clad ✤Royal Doulton ✤Waterford Crystal ✤Portmeirion 34 Courthouse Square, Goderich 519-612-1919 The Culinary Boutique in the heart of Downtown Goderich. Everything you may need from the preparation of your culinary delights to presentation JKS Custom Building Blyth, Ontario Justin Shortreed Owner/Licensed Carpenter jkscustombuilding@gmail.com 519-357-5336 • New Construction • Renovations • Residential • Agricultural Ready to build Julie Sawchuk of the Blyth area, above, found that accessible home construction resources were lacking in Canada when her family was looking to build a new house, so she decided to write a book on the subject herself. It should be available from Amazon this month and she has a special open house and book launch event scheduled for November. (Shawn Loughlin photo) A new dawn Working with local contractor Casey Boven, the Sawchuk family are now proud owners of an accessible house that accommodates all family members. (Shawn Loughlin photo) Continued on page 21